Yesterday, he told the crowd: "This country, like a depressed teenage self-harmer, takes out a razor to scour a forearm and now contemplates its own throat.

"Truly, Brexit has stirred something not heroic or celebratory or generous in the nation, but instead has coaxed into the light from some dark, damp places the lowest human impulses, from the small-minded to the mean-spirited to the murderous."

The novelist added: "I belong to the smallest, saddest, most pessimist faction: I am a denialist.

"Almost a year on, I am still shaking my head in disbelief.

"I know it’s not helpful, but I don’t accept this near mystical, emotionally charged decision. I can’t believe it. I reject it."

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McEwan is well-known for his provocative remarks on Brexit

Shaking his head in disbelief, Mr McEwan said: "How can it be that in a one-off vote, a third of the electorate have determined the fate of the nation for the next half-century?

"That shameless lies were told in the Brexit cause, that an advisory referendum has taken on a binding status.

"That politicians who spoke for the EU now occupy the highest offices in the country and are driving us out."